Prominent Female Developer Leaves GitHub Amid Harassment Allegations

March 17, 2014

By Developer.com Staff

Well-known developer Julie Ann Horvath has resigned from GitHub and has made some serious charges about sexism and intimidation. According to Horvath, a culture hostile to women reigned at the company. "I had a really hard time getting used to the culture, the aggressive communication on pull requests and how little the men I worked with respected and valued my opinion," she said. When she rebuffed romantic overtures from one of her male colleagues, Horvath said that he began deleting her work. And she said the wife of one of the co-founders started a campaign of intimidation against her.

GitHub responded with a memo acknowledging many of the problems Horvath brought to light. "I would like to personally apologize to Julie," wrote CEO and co-founder Chris Wanstrath. "It’s certain that there were things we could have done differently."